2021 Year in Review
Another year, another Year in Review. 2021 was a good one. It was my best business year to date and provided me with opportunities I could've only dreamed of just a few years ago. More importantly, 2021 brought me and Vanessa our beautiful daughter, Mia. The year was dynamic as hell and stressful at times, but here we are happy and stronger.
My clients kept me busy with studio and location work. I photographed far and wide across the Greater Pittsburgh area, LA, Youngstown, Indianapolis, New Bethlehem, Costa Rica, Florida, New York and West Virginia.
In LA I had the pleasure of photographing Jrue and Lauren Holiday for Revtown (Jrue is the point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and Lauren played soccer for the US Women's National team). The Holiday's graciously invited us to their beautiful home in the Valley for the shoot. They were beyond accommodating and an absolute pleasure to work with. Got some killer shots.
Editorial work was down a bit, particularly during the second half of the year. But, I was particularly proud of the assignments that I did get to photograph. Most notably, the opportunity to accompany Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the USDOT on their tour around Pittsburgh promoting Biden's infrastructure plan.
One of my favorite photos of the year was ironically never published. Crain's Communications hired me for an assignment in Youngstown, Ohio to photograph Herb Washington, a retired MLB player who owns multiple McDonald's franchise locations. Washington was suing McDonalds, accusing the company of systemic racial discrimination. The story never ran. From a quick Google search it looks like McDonald's settled the lawsuit with Washington.
This year brought us our daughter, Mia. She was born on the 29th of October, a day that Vanessa and I will never forget (not just because of the photos). I enjoyed photographing V's progress and now get even more pleasure out of photographing our beautiful baby girl. She's still too young to get annoyed by my camera.
We snuck a few trips in this year knowing that our freewheeling style of travel would slow down a bit with a newborn. The biggest trip was to Costa Rica, a country we've been dying to visit for a while now. We both fell in love with the beauty and culture down there. Costa Rica or not, I get so much pleasure from exploring with my camera.
Travel, work and a growing family kept me engaged and on my toes. It was a busy year to say the least, particularly when compared to 2020. Thanks to my family, friends and clients for making life good. Here’s to 2022.
Skip to Section
Herb Washington for Crain's Communications
Pete Buttigieg for USDOT
Pittsburgh Magazine
Started the year with a monthly assignment called "Stories of Our Neighbors”
Lou Ickes of Brillobox
Becky Jung who fosters and adopts rabbits
Katie Arquette; Internation Wrestling Cartel Wrestling Champ
I also worked on a story covering Pittsburgh podcasters. This lead to an opportunity to be a guest on YaJagoff! Podcast - a first for me. Story here
Revtown
Spent a lot of time in the studio helping the Revtown team to revamp their website this year. We reshot almost every piece of clothing in order to create high quality consistency across the site.
We took a quick trip to Indianapolis to photograph Malcolm Brogdon (the point guard of the Pacers) rocking Revtown
One of the highlights of my year was flying out to LA to photograph Jrue and Lauren Holiday at their gorgeous home (Jrue is the point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and Lauren played soccer for the US Women's National team)
Duquesne University
Huntington Bank
A newly acquired client for me this year and an exciting one at that. I was tasked to photograph all of the new locations opening up in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Many more to come!
Pittsburgh Technology Council
Year three of the "Pittsburgh Founders" portrait project for TEQ Magazine. This year's founders were Emily Mercurio, Martin Sheperd and Jordan Joltes.
Pam Eisner Designs
H Mag for the Heinz Endowments
Penn State Smeal Magazine
Another new client this year. Only had one assignment this year, but really happy to be connected with the University. Moving forward, I'll be photographing Smeal College of Business featured alumni in the Western PA region.
University of Miami Medicine Magazine
Personal
Pregnancy
Costa Rica
Gulf Coast
Mia
